ivwilsoniv
- Aurora, IL
2. I just can't look its killing me
Iowa 104, Illinois 97 OT POSTGAME
2. I just can't look its killing me
Meh... Frank did not play that year as Prop 48, and the following year, the Illini brought in 3 McD AA players (Frankie, Marcus, and Cook), an amazing infusion of talent. We have nowhere near that talent coming in next year, so the key is to start getting a lot more talent via recruiting.
Tilmon would’ve had to sit a year if he left without a coaching change.
Underwood is clearly better at coaching a more enjoyable offense. In a small sample size, he has been just as bad as Groce in finding ways to lose games that should’ve been won.
Hopefully next year:
Ayo >>> Alstork
Smith learns to play college level defense
Damonte doesn’t do two incredibly stupid things for every great thing
Frazier competes for All Big Ten
There is hope. But it sucks to only have “next year” hope in mid January.
ivwilsoniv
- Aurora, IL
DUDE, the Groce era SUCKED. IT WAS TERRIBLE.
What was good about it?@!# Illinois missed the tournament for Malcolm Hill's entire career. HIS ENTIRE CAREER! Groce sucked, man. Illinois was severely under-prepared for almost every game. C'mon.
Look at Underwood's results when he had talent.
Look at Groce's results when he had talent
I was going to put this, but you beat me to it.
I will add that BU is changing a losing culture that dates back two coaches now. This isn’t going to turn around in one season guys. Some of the best talent we have are freshmen, and our front court is pretty weak.
I’ll also mention that people who thought Tilmon would stay if Groce stayed might need to rethink that. Multiple sources told me he was very apprehensive about staying, and CM was just enough to change his mind. Usually i take things i hear with a grain of salt, but it looked pretty obvious he was apprehensive before he signed his LOI.
Here's my takeaway.
There's been a couple players exceeding expectations this year, Black and Frazier.
Everyone else has been as expected, or worse. I'm not blaming this on the players as much as coaching. I like BU. But this board sounds like a bunch of BU fanboys. He's been a head coach for 4 years. The sample size is small, as were seeing this year. How can we be so ineffective against a zone defense? There is no movement, just perimeter passing. Other teams make offensive/defensive changes when losing. We have too, but we can't adjust to their changes when winning. You can only blame the players so long for slow starts/not finishing/not buying into the program/being freshman/etc/etc. Illinois BB is like buying a lottery ticket. Deep down, you think you have a chance of winning but reality kicks in and you lost 2 bucks (or 10 for getting BTN+).
A couple player notes:
Nichols: Should never drive from the FT line out. He loses control or misses a layup. If we're lucky, he gets fouled.
Alstork: Where's the offense? I can only assume this is as directed. Cut em loose!
Finke: ???? Lack of confidence. No guidance
Smith: See above.
Ebo: Encouraging, but very raw.
I"ll continue to watch because I'm a fan, but it's extremely discouraging.
There's been a couple players exceeding expectations this year, Black and Frazier.
Everyone else has been as expected, or worse. I'm not blaming this on the players as much as coaching. I like BU. But this board sounds like a bunch of BU fanboys. He's been a head coach for 4 years. The sample size is small, as were seeing this year. How can we be so ineffective against a zone defense? There is no movement, just perimeter passing. Other teams make offensive/defensive changes when losing. We have too, but we can't adjust to their changes when winning. You can only blame the players so long for slow starts/not finishing/not buying into the program/being freshman/etc/etc. Illinois BB is like buying a lottery ticket. Deep down, you think you have a chance of winning but reality kicks in and you lost 2 bucks (or 10 for getting BTN+).
A couple player notes:
Nichols: Should never drive from the FT line out. He loses control or misses a layup. If we're lucky, he gets fouled.
Alstork: Where's the offense? I can only assume this is as directed. Cut em loose!
Finke: ???? Lack of confidence. No guidance
Smith: See above.
Ebo: Encouraging, but very raw.
I"ll continue to watch because I'm a fan, but it's extremely discouraging.
With the exception that we won both of our games last year vs. Iowa, against a much better team with Peter Jok. Style is more attractive, current results are not.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
Also - I want to be clear - this isn’t an aesthetic argument (even though it is more aesthetically pleasing). This is about being strategically depantsed in nearly every game we played over the last two years of the Groce Era. It didn’t just look bad - it was bad. It was bad, dumb basketball.
+1,000,000,000
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
Holy F’ng S. We now have a guy using “winning basketball” and “Illinois under Groce” interchangeably.
Further proof that we are now Rutgers.
Deleted member 8632
D
Guest
Can we please stop talking about a former coach and a Miznoz freshman???
not sure how anyone thinks this is better than groce...I understand the viewpoint that it WILL be (and i agree with that), but how is it better right now?
As crap as last season was, we were 12-6 and 2-3 at this same point in conf play..and it's not like we've had a gauntlet to start Big 10 or otherwise. Our schedule htis year is SOFT..
As crap as last season was, we were 12-6 and 2-3 at this same point in conf play..and it's not like we've had a gauntlet to start Big 10 or otherwise. Our schedule htis year is SOFT..
One thing I know for certain, good teams find ways to win and bad teams find ways to lose. I think we know which end this team falls right now. The most telling issues I'm seeing right now is an inability to close out the end of halves (which is HUGE and good teams do well) and even more concerning is that no one seems to give a dang. Frazier is about the only one on the team that seems to play with emotion. I'm not sure what it is, but I know Underwood has also noted this same thing and his concern as to why we are like that.
I was trying to think of power 5 conference schools with basketball and football programs that are both as futile as the Illini's, and thought of Oregon State and Boston College. Somehow I didn't even consider Rutgers :tsk:
IlliniRon
Illini Basketball Fan Forever
- Ft Worth, Texas
Tough loss, but we just could not stay out of foul trouble tonight and could not grab a rebound when we needed one. Silly mistakes at the end, and in OT we seemed very under-sized against Iowa. I do think Underwood can turn around the Illini, but it might be tough this season.
I am so glad that was caught before that post went off into the ether.
I don't know Matt, we were not losing to Iowa by 25 last year, we actually beat a much better Iowa team with Jok in both games last year. We are 10-8 right now, but really 9-8, as one of our victories is against a Div. III school. The style of play is more attractive, the future will be better IF we get the talent, but our record is not better than last year, definitely not true at this point. Today, we lost to a pretty pathetic IMO Iowa team at home, I can't really find solace in our style of play. Even from a coaching perspective, we looked clueless in the second half.
That pretty sums it up
Cook
- Richmond, VA
Agree. Where is this vaunted Underwood offense? :noidea:
Last year’s team had Malcolm Hill. Think of what last year’s team would have been without him.